Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis

We are happy to announce the publication of our book Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis (Amsterdam University Press 2024), edited by Laura op de Beke, Joost Raessens, Stefan Werning, and Gerald Farca. The book will be available open access from 19-01-2024 at the website of AUP.

With the climate crisis and its repercussions becoming more and more tangible, games are increasingly participating in the production, circulation, and interrogation of environmental assumptions, using both implicit and explicit ways of framing the crisis. Whether they are providing new spaces to imagine and practice alternative forms of living, or reproducing ecomodernist fantasies, games as well as player cultures are increasingly tuned in to the most pressing environmental concerns.

This book brings together chapters by a diverse group of established and emerging authors to develop a growing body of scholarship that explores the shape, impact, and cultural context of ecogames. Among the authors are eight scholars participating in STRATEGIES: Thomas Bjørner, Sonia Fizek, Pawel Frelik, Chloé Germaine, Joost Raessens, Joost Vervoort, Paul Wake, and Stefan Werning. The book comprises four thematic sections, Today’s Challenges: Games for Change, Future Worlds: New Imaginaries, The Nonhuman Turn, and Critical Metagaming Practices. Each section explores different aspects of ecocritical engagement in and through games. As a result, the book’s comprehensive scope covers a variety of angles, methodologies, and case studies, significantly expanding the field of green media studies. 

Joost and Stefan